Past Challenges

1979 Pontiac Trans Am (Birdie)

About

I bought "Birdie" in 1980 with 11,000 miles on him. It was during the gas crunch days (the OTHER gas crunch days!). Being new to the litre specs, we asked the salesman what the 6.6 stood for. He said 350. We took it out for a spin, thought it had a lot of kick, so we bought it. Someone pulled out in front of us, so, my husband stepped on it. It kicked us back, and my husband said "That's no 350! After reading the manual, we found out the 6.6 is a 400! What do you know - a salesman lied!!! We went to change the oil filter, bought one for the 400, but found out it didn't fit. Talked to a couple of guys at the TA Club and they told us about the Olds. 403 engine. That's when we got hooked! 28 years later.....Birdie needed paint and the dogs and kid took a tole on his interior. The original Heritage brown was never my favorite. Since I Like to be different we went custom. I loved my snowflakes, but they just didn't go with the new paint... It needed chrome! I was always a fan of side pipes and they seemed to go with the wheels. I always thought the shaker seemed too small for the size of the hood, so we went with the fiberglass L88 hood. We sculpted the rear spoiler to fit the sloping trunk for a modern flair.